TVSquad

(S03E16) Bless the peapickin' little hearts of Carter Bays and Craig Thomas. All week, they've been setting us up, telling us about the return of Robin Sparkles, saying that we were going to get an episode full of eighties and nineties goodness, complete with James Van Der Beek, Tiffany, and Alan Thicke. We even got a video (full video is after the end of the review) as a taste.

But all of it was a ruse. A week-long ruse to distract us from realizing what was really going to happen in this episode. Since I don't want to spoil it for anyone, come with me to the after-jump portion of our review and then we can talk.

Have you been missing those references to Scherbatsky's Canadian life? If you know what I'm talking about then you'll be overjoyed to know that on April 21, How I Met Your Mother will be all about Robin Sparkles, Robin Scherbatsky's alter-ego teen singing star. The entire episode is planned as a flashback to the 1980s 1990's when Robin became a one-hit wonder with the song "Let's Go to the Mall." Well, it turns out that wasn't her only song. Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, How I Met Your Mother's co-creators, composed a ballad. "Sandcastles in the Sand" was the flip-side of "Let's Go to the Mall." It's supposedly in the style of a power break-up ballad, like "Foolish Beat" and "Toy Soldiers."

This is Spoilers Anonymous, a weekly column here at TV Squad where we'll supply you with the dirt on some of the more popular shows on the air. We'll never put spoilers up here on the main page in order to help the reformed stay unspoiled. If you have anything to add to the group, feel free to step up and let yourself be heard, either with our tips form or by emailing us at tvsquad at gmail dot com or call and leave a message at (775) 640-8479 - your anonymity is guaranteed, if you wish to remain as such.

This week we have: 30 Rock, Desperate Housewives, Greek, Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, How I Met Your Mother , Numb3rs, Smallville and Ugly Betty. (SPOILERS FOLLOW!)

One thing I didn't enjoy much about NBC's comedy Will & Grace was the constant famous guest stars popping in almost on a weekly basis. At times, it felt like the episodes were written for those guest stars instead of writing the episodes first and then trying to find a famous person to fill in a role. Since the strike ended, I fear that How I Met Your Mother is heading towards that same path. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing guest stars here and there in a series but having them pop up week after week can get tiring. So I hope this is only a renewal stunt for the series and not something that will become the standard.

Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that Britney Spears guest starred in the March 24 episode of HIMYM. Alicia Silverstone was set to appear in a few episodes (some suspect her character would have turned out to be the mother) but bowed out when Spears was hired because Silverstone was worried that her performance would be over-shadowed by Britney's appearance.

The latest addition to the HIMYM guest star list: Dawson's Creek's James Van Der Beek! Slight spoilers about the role and episode ahead!

(S02E04) I felt like I was watching a bizarro version of Ugly Betty this week. Betty was a cheater, Justin belched, and the guy from Dawson's Creek was an insensitive jerk! What's next--Hilda dressing conservatively? There were several unpleasant surprises in this episode, but Gio's absence probably made some of the viewers happy. It's always difficult to watch the episodes where obstacles are set up for each character, but how else can there be a happy ending later on? Still, it took a while to get over the shock of seeing Justin wearing his Dad's leather jacket and hearing him say things like "Whatevs."

Details are finally being revealed today about the Robot Chicken: Star Wars special that is coming up on June 17th on Cartoon Network. We first heard about it last fall when Adam interviewed Morel Orel creator Dino Stamatopoulos, who shares a studio with Robot Chicken. The news today is that George Lucas and Mark Hamill are both participating. Lucas will play himself and Hamill will play Luke Skywalker. And, as Adam reported late last year, producers Seth Green and Matthew Senreich are actually working with LucasFilm Ltd. to create the 30-minute parody of the Star Wars series. Senreich says it's a dream come true and "How many people can say that George Lucas let them play with his entire Star Wars universe and do Robot Chicken-like things to it?"

I'm really looking forward to this episode. Green and Senreich have pretty much been obsessed with Star Wars and it has appeared in Robot Chicken many times. But- to be able to recreate the entire series with the blessing of The Godfather? Awesome!

By the way, this will be Mark Hamill's second visit to Robot Chicken. He voiced three characters, one of them was himself, in a 2005 episode. Other celebrity voices in the Star Wars special include Conan O'Brien, James van der Beek, Hulk Hogan, Abraham Benrubi, Breckin Meyer, Joey Fatone, and regular Seth MacFarlane.

(S02E15) No sense in getting into the circumstances about Reid's abduction. I'm assuming that if you've come back to read this, then you saw the spectacular first part that aired after the Super Bowl.

More than anything else, this episode was all about Reid. It's the first time we really got some explanations about his past, his childhood, and what it was like to grow up in his house. It has me a little worried though. Why's that? Because it reminded me a lot of this season's premiere episode. And we all know what that led to - the downfall of Elle.

The numbers are in and Super Bowl XLI was huge. Coming in at 93.1 million viewers, it was the third most watched program in history, and the second most watched Super Bowl. Having the lead-in to end all lead-ins also helped Criminal Minds put up the best numbers ever for the series. The special episode following the game averaged 26.2 million viewers.

Is that a disappointment? Last year, the post Super Bowl episode of Grey's Anatomy drew a considerably larger 38.1 million viewers. We can chalk part of that difference up to the fact that Grey's was more of a hit show going in, but I think more of it has to do with the subject matter.

Criminal Minds is never a touchy-feely, happy bunnies on clouds kind of show, but the post Super Bowl episode was dark even by their standards. Come on, Dawson chaining up a woman and setting the dogs loose on her? That's asking a lot from the family friendly Super Bowl audience.

(S02E14) I remember reading an article about a month ago (I forget where) about how CBS had chosen Criminal Minds as the follow-up to last night's Super Bowl. The reason I mention it, is that in the article Edward Allen Bernero (the show's EP) said something along the lines of how they weren't planning on making this episode any different from a normal installment.

Well, I have to disagree. This was episode was spectacular and easily exceeded any expectations I had going in. If this didn't "wow" you, then you haven't been watching Criminal Minds enough. Not only was the case one of the most gruesome things the BAU team has ever tackled, but it's only the third time the series has left us with a "To Be Continued" cliffhanger. All that sounds like a bit more than the average episode to me.

It looks like 2006 will be the year of the Dawson's Creek kids after all. We've already been hearing plenty about Katie Holmes and MIchelle Williams, and, as I was happy to report earlier this month, Joshua Jackson is starring in a legal drama on CBS (hopefully) next fall. Now comes word that James Van Der Beek (aka Dawson) will also be returning to series television, also on CBS. Van Der Beek has been cast in a comedy pilot, Sex, Power, Love & Politics, a comedy that, like Van Der Beek, has too many names in the title. It's about Capitol Hill staffers in their 30s, and that's about all we know. I'm not sure what role he has, but he'll be acting alongside Ally McBeal alum, Jane Krakowski, a role Adam reported on earlier this month.

Joshua Jackson just landed the lead role in a CBS legal drama that, so far, does not have a title. Jackson, also known as Pacey Witter (heart!) from Dawson's Creek, is fresh off the stage in England where he acted with Patrick Stewart in a David Mamet play. He also shot a couple of indie movies last year.

In the new series, Jackson will play a first-year lawyer, badgered by a firm partner, whose career takes an important turn when he is assigned the case of a death row inmate. The series is produced by Carol Mendelsohn, one of the producers of the CSI franchise.

Maybe 2006 is the year of the Dawson's Creek kids? Katie Holmes will allegedly give birth to Tom Cruise's baby later this year and Michelle Williams may or may not win an Oscar for her role in Brokeback Mountain. Now, where on earth is James van der Beek?